Volk calls out UFC commentary team

[Humongo]

I think that fight Adesanya was considered the favorite by a lot of people, he's the flashy fighter of the two. He had the more impressive resume at the time. So I think that influenced things.

I know, that's why I point it out. They build up the guy that earn (or potentially will earn) more money for the UFC, it has nothing to do with trying to legitimate a contender.

 

[SirRealKiller]

I know, that's why I point it out. They build up the guy that earn (or potentially will earn) more money for the UFC, it has nothing to do with trying to legitimate a contender.

Yeah it does. Do you think the UFC would make more money if people think the contenders are legit or glorified sparring partners? The UFC benefits from people thinking the contenders are a legit threat.

 

[fortheo]

u were okay with ortega lying on the ground after the ref came up to him and just stared at him for 5 seconds until his corner came up to him, picked him up, and plopped him onto the stool? if thats not a stoppage, i dont know what is.... theyre lucky his corner was legit in the same spot he was laying.

I would have been okay with them stopping it too. They needed to make a decision one way or another within the minute break. What I'm not okay with was them giving a comprimised ortega extra time to recover until he could finally answer a quetion correctly, because that's unfair to volkanovski. Either let him fight, or don't, but don't give one guy extra time to recover while he's injured -- that actively works against the fighter who worked hard to inflict all that damage.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Everyone always jumps to conspiracy theories. I think the simpler explanation is more likely - that Herb and the doctor bungled it.

 

[FlowchartRog]

It can also be extremely biased.

I would say boxing commentary is almost never biased, unless it's the Sky Sports team, who are often atrociously and blatantly biased. The American commentators on HBO, Showtime etc were generally surprisingly unbiased.

Boxing judging? Now that's another matter

 

[HHJ]

I would say boxing commentary is almost never biased, unless it's the Sky Sports team, who are often atrociously and blatantly biased. The American commentators on HBO, Showtime etc were generally surprisingly unbiased.

Boxing judging? Now that's another matter

Ive seen plenty of obvious bias on HBO and the Usyk/Joshua DAZN telecast was very pro joshua biased.

 

[Iroh]

when they praise the challenger its to legitimize him, when they praise the champ its to show that they are that good...

i try to be objective about the ufc's objectivity, but its pretty clear they have ppl they want to win. theyve even admitted it in their lawsuit with matchmaking. there is no denying it. they had a latino in a heavily latino influenced area with other latinos on the card during latino heritege month/week whatever while having and showcasing a major latino advertiser in which the challenger took part in a commercial .. vs a champ from outside the us at the tail end of a pandemic, so itd be more difficult to train... id say they tried hard to get ortega to win here....but hey those are just the stats, ufc didnt play favorites lol. thats not even talking about the commentary or sketchy officiating

Sure, the UFC execs have their preferences, but I doubt they all get a script by the UFC or are told who to specifically prop up. I think the commentary team has quite a bit of freedom as long as they don't really hurt the brand.

 

[HCS]

DC started really good in his career doing commentary but has drastically gone downhill fast. He's often too immature and will derail the fight with his need to put himself over either though long winded technical breakdowns or in just geeking himself out.

You nailed it. He was a natural, but I think he was pushed to be more than he was and he felt the pressure. Maybe he did it to himself though. He wants to be this big sports personality, but it doesn't seem like a good fit.

 

[Iroh]

Did they need to legitimate Adesanya against Jan? Give me a break...

It's not a written rule or formula how they should hype a fight up. It's on the commentator's own initiative what he thinks is the best way to hype a fight. Sometimes they actually will disagree with each other, which basically shows they're not reading of a script or anything of the sort.

 

[HCS]

I would have been okay with them stopping it too. They needed to make a decision one way or another within the minute break. What I'm not okay with was them giving a comprimised ortega extra time to recover until he could finally answer a quetion correctly, because that's unfair to volkanovski. Either let him fight, or don't, but don't give one guy extra time to recover while he's injured -- that actively works against the fighter who worked hard to inflict all that damage.

Luckily Volk was still able to win and we didn't have another Kennedy-Romero situation. That would've been disastrous.

 

[wwkirk]

In his interview with Helwani on the MMA hour he mentions that at the start of the fight, nothing he was doing was getting acknowledged, while Ortega was getting props for jabs that didn't land, and being complimented for how resilient he was..

He also says it was dubious the lengths that the reff and doctor went to keep Ortega in the fight.

The UFC commentary has been THAT bad the last few fights that I had to turn it off, so I didn't hear, but I'm not surprised at all, and believe him.. the amount of push they give some fighters.. it's so obvious it's patronising.. especially on the Till - Brunson card..made me sick



At..
12.45
15.30

Volk showed kindness to DC by not siccing Ariel on him.

 

[DestinedAussie]

I think a big part of it is often to legitimize the challenger. Volk is already legitimate as he is the champ and has already defended too, so they need to convince the audience that the challenger really poses a threat to him. Not that I think they couldn't have done a better job. I just don't really always see it as them being biased.

I feel this way too. They are trying to make people believe they are watching a contest and what they tuned into was worth it. It isn't like other sports because they are a private company that sells a product. They are making the product themselves. It isn't like nba where ESPN bring in their owns crews and do the production at arms length from the NBA.

I love OP didn't even listen to the commentary and is critical.

Volk is just unhappy because he isn't getting the same credit as other champs. He is viewed as tough and volume puncher, not the skilled/powerful fighter. The later is what sells tickets and get the $$. I am aussie and like volk, but his just had so many close fights that could have potentially gone the other way. Even the ortega fight when he got him in those subs that could have easily been good night. He was seconds away from losing. Had Ortega got his neck earlier in the fight before he took that damage I think he would have finished. Ortega also pretty clearly won the last round when Volk should have been finishing him. His certainly had hard fights against skill opposition, but so have Usman, Khabib, Conor etc and they have been racking up finish after finish(in title runs, obviously conor isn't anymore).

 

[Iroh]

So,
shillin' since been shillin' since been shillin'? (movie reference)

No clue, bud.

 

[Iroh]

I feel this way too. They are trying to make people believe they are watching a contest and what they tuned into was worth it. It isn't like other sports because they are a private company that sells a product. They are making the product themselves. It isn't like nba where ESPN bring in their owns crews and do the production at arms length from the NBA.

I love OP didn't even listen to the commentary and is critical.

Volk is just unhappy because he isn't getting the same credit as other champs. He is viewed as tough and volume puncher, not the skilled/powerful fighter. The later is what sells tickets and get the $$. I am aussie and like volk, but his just had so many close fights that could have potentially gone the other way. Even the ortega fight when he got him in those subs that could have easily been good night. He was seconds away from losing. Had Ortega got his neck earlier in the fight before he took that damage I think he would have finished. Ortega also pretty clearly won the last round when Volk should have been finishing him. His certainly had hard fights against skill opposition, but so have Usman, Khabib, Conor etc and they have been racking up finish after finish(in title runs, obviously conor isn't anymore).

Yeah, I agree. And I think it was the right tactic that they mainly focuessed on Ortega here. It showed that when Ortega did come really close to finishing him, he actually was the threat they made hi out to be. If they would just have said the whole time that Volk was leading the dance, it might have looked bad in some casual's eyes when Ortega had so much success with his grappling, because they might have already made up their minds that he was a can.

Indeed, dude needs some finishes to really get some more popularity and acknowledgement. I myself don't really mind it though. How does he do with Aussie press and the Aussie audience though? Is he popular?

 

[NickDiaz]

It's almost as of the fight shouldn't even been happening

So they pump up the obvious to manipulate the audience

 

[kalabula]

He's right. Ortega was given minutes to recover and really did not even seem like he wanted to continue anyways. When a fighter is on the spot like that, when they are using words like "I think/I guess I can continue" they are looking to find a way out while saving face and not looking like a pussy. What are they supposed to say? Doc: do you want to continue? Fighter: no.

Ya, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a ref or doctor in there when the final decision is left to the fighter.

 

[Guffman]

The UFC wanted so much for Ortega to be the new champion. They obviously have no interest in Volk. The commentary went exactly as I expected-biased in favor of Ortega from the start. It always makes me happy when the UFC chosen one goes down in defeat.

 

[Drugstore Cowboy]

In his interview with Helwani on the MMA hour he mentions that at the start of the fight, nothing he was doing was getting acknowledged, while Ortega was getting props for jabs that didn't land, and being complimented for how resilient he was..

He also says it was dubious the lengths that the reff and doctor went to keep Ortega in the fight.

The UFC commentary has been THAT bad the last few fights that I had to turn it off, so I didn't hear, but I'm not surprised at all, and believe him.. the amount of push they give some fighters.. it's so obvious it's patronising.. especially on the Till - Brunson card..made me sick



At..
12.45
15.30

I was telling you dogs all along, Daniel Cormier is not qualified to commentate striking in MMA fights.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He really didn't say anything about the commentary team, even though Ariel tried his hardest to get it out of him.

He did have plenty to say about him technically TKOing Ortega though.

Ariel would throw shit to anyone to create controversy. What a bitch.

 

[HHJ]

Luckily Volk was still able to win and we didn't have another Kennedy-Romero situation. That would've been disastrous.

Fuck that would have sucked hard.